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your letters: Imagining a more perfect nation

By Rod Broding, Battle Lake on Oct 2, 2011 at 10:14 p.m.

We Americans are fond of asking, "Who is to blame for this economic morass we are in?" I ask, "Who has the best opportunity to fix the problem?"

Determining the blame for our present financial difficulties is a useless endeavor. Was it the previous administration? The current one? Congress? Wall Street? Or any other entity that can be blamed? And for what purpose do we blame? Just to point a dirty finger at someone? To what gain is that?

Instead, let's try to determine who can best solve our dilemma! It appears that most conservative thinking centers on the idea of less governmental spending. While less spending is probably a worthwhile venture, most financial advisors contend that reducing governmental spending alone will not solve our problems of mortgage foreclosure, unemployment, inflation, etc. The problems demand additional sources of revenue. An increased tax of the very wealthy seems to be the least harmful and the most productive. Why are we so afraid of that?

Observe the people who are exercising discretionary spending. It is neither the poor nor the middle class. It is the well-to-do. Good for them! They help keep our economy afloat.

But it is time for those people to extend a helping hand to the rest of America. And they are willing to do that! Research has shown repeatedly that when taxes are raised on the rich, only a very few move from their state or leave their country. The wealthy understand the Biblical mandate: "To whom much is given, much is required." (Luke 12:48)

Now, I ask: which political party is more likely to ask that of the rich? The Republican Party? No, for it is the rich who basically support that party. Are they going to "cut off the hand that feeds them?" Not likely! How about an Independent Party? They are woefully disorganized and without power to do anything substantial. So, we are left with the Democratic Party. They are the party of the poor and middle classes who have little left to give after paying for basic necessities. You cannot give what you don't have.

America's only hope is to mobilize the Democratic Party to dominate the political power in our nation and to work with the other political entities to equalize the standard of living for all its citizens. Join us, and together we will join hands, hearts and minds to make of the United States a "more perfect nation."